Sunday, March 7, 2010

Well, now I've seen it all

Once on the road again, the wind was in our hair and the rental Pontiac was rolling like a dream. There was neither cloud in the sky nor hole in our engine, and the 6 hours of driving ahead of us felt like a mere stroll around the block after our nightmarish adventure medley of the day before. We amused ourselves by personifying our GPS device and watching the temperature on the dashboard slowly creep into our comfort zone.

Soon the tourists in us needed some sort of billboard-encouraged distraction, so we stopped at a place called the Carolina Cider Company, where we sampled a variety of all-natural fruity beverages and learned about the health benefits of muscadine. The woman running the show proved her knowledge about Philadelphia with references to Fat Albert and "those steaks there." She told us stories of how Captain Kangaroo and Bill Cosby inspired her as a child, and she sent us on our merry way with bottles of peach, black cherry, and of course muscadine, along with a link to their website.

The remainder of the ride was pretty peaceful with yours truly at the wheel. The rest of the gang fell asleep for a while, which gave me some time to sing along to Fleetwood Mac as I pondered the abundance of alligators in the swamps surrounding the highway. We made a pit stop just above the border, where my drowsy pals convinced themselves that beef jerky was a good road trip purchase, and we barreled on.

Finally, we arrived in Titusville, Florida, at the swanky Best Western Space Shuttle Inn, which conveniently shared a roof with Durango Steak House, and a driveway with the Waffle House. This was great because we really felt like walking to dinner, and Durango was clearly targeting us with its sign that said "Welcome Bikers, Hawgs. Eat Beef." So we did.

The next morning we were greeted by a flock of vultures perched along the dumpster in the parking lot. We didn't know what those early birds were getting, but we continued to The Breakfast Room for our complimentary meal. The woman in charge of cereal and coffee levels scolded us for not immediately finding a place to sit. She looked at Kim with her box of BYO Fiber One tucked under her arm, nudged her friend, and said, "well, now I've seen it all." We, on the other hand, had not seen it all, and were pretty sure we weren't going to find It in Titusville, Florida – so it was back in the Pontiac and back on the road!